Have you been injured at work or has your employer mistreated you? If the answer is yes, it is your responsibility to take legal action against them. Allowing your employer to go unpunished means they won’t think twice about being negligent towards or cruel to other employees in the future.
The process of filing a workers’ compensation claim can be very prolonged and for people who’re not familiar with this kind of case, intensely stressful. Don’t worry though as this post intends to tell you everything you need to know about claims of this kind, explaining how they work and what they involve.
Building Your Case
The first step in a workers’ compensation claim is to acquire evidence. Building your case is essential. Until your case is strong, you won’t be able to claim compensation, and that’s a fact. The best kind of evidence is photographic. However, if you are unable to obtain photographic evidence, a medical certificate or report should suffice. If you have been harassed at work or your employer has treated you unfairly, an alternative is to catch them on video or an audio recording behaving in a way that is inappropriate.
Finding A Lawyer
The next step is to find a lawyer. You need a lawyer with good reviews and a solid reputation. The expert team behind the Pacific Workers website also stresses the importance of experience. You need a lawyer who’s handled cases like yours before. If the lawyer you hire has no experience, they are not going to be able to help you. Your lawyer, in addition to being experienced, also needs to be polite and respectful. The only way to tell whether or not a lawyer is polite and respectful is to meet them and talk to them.
Forwarding Your Claim
Once you have built your case and found a lawyer, you can go ahead and forward your claim to them. Your lawyer will then begin working on your case. Make sure that you are truthful and do not exaggerate any details or elements of your case. If you exaggerate at all, you will get into a lot of trouble. Exaggeration is just lying, to be honest. If you lie in a claim for compensation, your entire claim could be thrown out and you could actually be arrested for fraud. Fraud is a very serious crime.
Thinking About Budget
Hiring a lawyer is not cheap. You therefore need to think about the budget. One thing you will be pleased to learn if budget is a problem for you is that the vast majority of personal injury lawyers offer their services as part of no-win-no-fee arrangements, or contingency plans. As part of these plans, you only pay for your legal support if they win the case for you. Rather than paying a fixed fee, you pay a percentage of your earnings. This could be anywhere from 25% to 50%. Negotiate with your lawyer if you think their fee is too high.
If you have been mistreated or injured at work, you deserve compensation. The process of claiming compensation can be very stressful. This post’s guidance should have walked you through what to expect from such a claim.